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Esperanto
= All Duolingo Esperanto Course Notes = External Resources https://www.reddit.com/r/duolingo/wiki/index#wiki_esperanto Intros Tips and Notes As you learn Esperanto with this course, you are welcome to check the Tips and Notes for each Skill. They can help to answer any questions you may have. Some simple Esperanto rules * Each letter has a unique and separate sound. For example: longa is pronounced "lon-ga". Both k and n are pronounced in knabo. * The emphasis in every word is always on the next-to-last syllable. For example: all 2-syllable words have the emphasis on the first syllable, as in viro, and all 3-syllable words have the emphasis on the middle syllable, as in knabino. * All action words (verbs) always end in -as, when talking about what is happening now. Examples: mi laboras (I work/I am working); mi estas (I am); vi dormas (you sleep/you are sleeping). * All words for a thing (or a person, an animal, a place, etc), end in -o. For example: libro (a book), viro (a man), hundo (a dog), Aŭstralio (Australia). * "The" is la in Esperanto. For example: la viro = the man. * "A" and "an" are not used in Esperanto. For example: viro = a man. * -in means female: viro = man, virino = woman; knabo = boy, knabino = girl; aktoro = actor, aktorino = actress. Esperanto alphabet The Esperanto alphabet has 28 letters. They include all the letters of the English alphabet, except for Q, W, X and Y. A few letters have accent marks. If you are spelling an Esperanto word out loud, the name of each consonant is the sound that letter makes, followed by ''-o'': B = bo, S = so etc. The name of each vowel is the sound that letter makes. Here are approximate English equivalents for each vowel: The letters C and J Here are five of the accented letters: Esperanto keyboard To obtain an Esperanto keyboard that will allow you to easily type these special characters, please refer to our forum by following the link below: Esperanto keyboards: all systems go! What if I don't want to install a keyboard just for this course? Duolingo recognizes the x-system, an alternative method of entering the accented Esperanto characters. To use the x-system, simply type the letter that requires the accent followed by an x: Example: type sxangxo to spell ŝanĝo Note that Duolingo will not convert accented characters entered via the x-system in the answer immediately when typed, but will recognize them when they are submitted for checking. Phrases Many expressions end in ''-n''. In Esperanto, greetings, thanks, congratulations and other similar expressions usually end in ''-n''. The simple reason for this will be covered in a future skill (Accusative) that explains the ''-n'' word ending. Question Words Kiu? means "which person or thing?". When used in relation to a person, it usually translates to "who?". Kiel? means "in what manner?", "how?". Esperanto Names People who speak Esperanto generally use their own names, but sometimes choose a name that is easier to pronounce in Esperanto, or an Esperanto nickname. Names for men in Esperanto generally end in -o, and nicknames in -ĉjo. A man named David could decide to use David, Davido, or the nickname Daĉjo. For a woman, Esperanto names can end in -o or -a, and nicknames end in -njo. A woman named Susan could use Susan, Suzano, Suzana, or the nickname Sunjo. Weather No "it" Note that the word "it" is not translated in the following expressions: Pluvas. = (It) is raining. Neĝas. = (It) is snowing. Estas varma tago. = (It) is a warm day. Ĉu Ĉu introduces a yes/no question. In contrast to English, it is not necessary to invert the subject and verb: Questions in Esperanto must always be introduced by a question word such as ĉu, kiu (which), kiel (how) and other words that you will learn later. You cannot make a question simply by inverting the word order, or by adding a question mark. Expressions with Ĉu Ĉu? = Really? Ĉu ne? = Isn't it? Vi laboras, ĉu ne? = You are working, aren't you? Adjectives Adjectives are words like happy, good, or big, which modify a noun. Remember that a noun always ends in -o in Esperanto. Adjectives, on the other hand, end in -a: varma = hot/warm, malvarma = cold bona = good, malbona = bad In Esperanto, the adjective may be placed either before or after the noun, with no change in meaning. "Bona tago" and "tago bona" both mean "a good day" and both are correct. In practice, most people prefer "bona tago", with the adjective before the noun. Affixes mal- is a prefix that means "the opposite of". Please note that mal- by itself does not mean bad (as it does in some other languages): varma = warm/hot; malvarma = cold bela = beautiful; malbela = ugly helpi = to help; malhelpi = to hinder lumo = light; mallumo = darkness bona = good; malbona = bad Plurals Plurals In English, when there is more than one of something, we usually add -s to form the plural (more than one), for example dogs, houses, etc. But not always! There are some exceptions, like children, men, mice. In Esperanto, there are no exceptions. You always add -j to form the plural: In Esperanto the -j ending is also added to descriptive words (adjectives), such as bela (beautiful), and granda (big, large): La viroj estas belaj. The men are handsome. La grandaj hundoj. The big dogs. La viro kaj la virino estas belaj. (because belaj refers to both la viro and la virino) The man and the woman are beautiful. Note that "la" stays the same in front of plural nouns, and no endings are ever added to "la". Pronunciation -oj is pronounced like the English oy, and the pronunciation of -aj is like the English eye. Numbers Unlike adjectives and nouns, the cardinal numbers (one, two, three, etc.) do not take any endings: Ni estas du virinoj. We are two women. Affixes -ej is a suffix used to indicate a place: kafo = coffee; kafejo = café (a place where you drink coffee, and other drinks.) laboras = works; laborejo = workplace loĝas = lives/inhabits; loĝejo = apartment (a place you inhabit) Jen Jen means "here is" or "here are" like the following: Jen la hundo. = Here is the dog. Jen la hundoj. = Here are the dogs. Although less common, jen may be followed by estas, for example: Jen estas la hundo. = Here is the dog. Jen estas la hundoj. = Here are the dogs. Everyday Estas Estas means am, is, or are. It is the present tense of the verb esti, to be. It is used in sentences like La nokto estas varma. (The night is hot.) or Adamo estas viro. (Adam is a man.) to assign a property or identity to someone or something. It can also be used to state the existence of someone or something: Estas viro en la parko. (There is a man in the park.), or Estas nokto. (It is night.) From these examples we can see that when it is the first word in a sentence, Estas means "There is" or "It is": Note: Do NOT say "Ĝi estas varma nokto". Ĝi (it) is not needed in this sentence. Adverbs Adverbs (usually -ly words in English) modify verbs and adjectives. In Esperanto they usually end in -e. Examples: rapide = quickly malrapide = slowly bone = well Accusative The accusative ending: -n Take a look at this English sentence: "The woman kisses the little boy." How do you know who is kissing, and who is being kissed? In English, you know by the word order. The woman comes before the verb, so she is doing the kissing (or to use the grammatical term, she is the subject of the sentence). The little boy comes after the verb, so he's the one being kissed (and he is the grammatical object of the sentence). In Esperanto, you can tell who is the subject and who is the object of the sentence by the endings. The subject of the sentence, i.e. the one who is doing the kissing, ends in -o . The object of the sentence, the one who is being kissed, has -n added after the -o. This means that you can always tell who or what is the subject, and who or what is the object, even if the sentence is switched around: La virino kisas la malgrandan knabon. The woman kisses the little boy. La malgrandan knabon kisas la virino. The woman kisses the little boy. (Look for the -n ! This still means "The woman kisses the little boy", even though the word order has been changed.) Note that the adjective (in this case malgranda) also takes the -n ending, the same as the noun it refers to: malgrandan knabon . These sentences mean the same thing, and are all equally correct. They all mean: "The woman kisses the small boy.": La virino kisas la malgrandan knabon. La malgrandan knabon kisas la virino. Kisas la virino la malgrandan knabon. Kisas la malgrandan knabon la virino. La virino la malgrandan knabon kisas. La malgrandan knabon la virino kisas. The -n ending in Esperanto is called the accusative. Be aware that the accusative ending -n is never used with the verb estas: Li estas knabo. (He is a boy.) Accusative and Plural If a word already ends in -j, the -n is added after it. Mi manĝas bonajn kukojn. I am eating good cakes. Mi vidas la belajn virinojn. I see the beautiful women. Pronouns Pronouns also get the -n ending. Note how regularly Esperanto pronouns change as compared to their English counterparts: Why many expressions end in -n When you use an expression like “Thanks” in English, you are actually shortening a full statement. As you have just learned, -n indicates the object of the sentence as you can see in the examples below: Dankon = Mi donas al vi dankon. Thanks = I give you thanks. ("thanks" is the object of the sentence). Saluton! = Mi donas al vi saluton. Hi!/Hello!/Greetings! = I give you greetings. ("greetings" is the object) Feliĉan novan jaron! = Mi deziras al vi feliĉan novan jaron! Happy new year! = I wish you a happy new year! ("happy new year" is the object) Prepositions The noun following a preposition normally takes a simple -o ending (-oj in the plural). Other endings will be explained later. For example: La virino estas en la kafejo. The woman is in the café. Ni iras al la parko. We go to the park. Colors ANKAŬ Ankaŭ (also / too) is placed immediately before the word it refers to. It is never placed at the end of the phrase, as is common in English. * Ankaŭ mi ludas multe = I play a lot, too. (Interpretation: Others play a lot, and I, too, play a lot.) * Mi ankaŭ ludas multe = I play a lot, too. (There are other things that I do a lot, and I also play a lot.) ESPERANTA The adjective form of Esperanto is Esperanta. This can either be capitalized or not based on the preference of the author. Any word can be turned into an adjective by changing the ending to -a. Languages LANGUAGE NAMES To name a language in Esperanto, the full expression is "la angla lingvo", "la franca lingvo" (the English language, the French language). However, people usually drop the word "lingvo" and just say "la angla" (English), "la franca" (French): La itala estas bela lingvo. Italian is a beautiful language. Mi parolas la hispanan. I speak Spanish. Don't try this with Esperanto though! In theory you could say "la Esperanta lingvo", but in practice this form is never used. The language has always been known as Esperanto right from the start: ONI Oni is equivalent to "one" in English. It is used frequently in Esperanto, more often than the pronoun "one" is used in English. It is used to make general statements, as follows: Oni diras, ke la angla estas malfacila lingvo. One says that English is a difficult language. People say that English is a difficult language. Oni parolas Esperanton en la domo. One speaks Esperanto in the house. Esperanto is spoken in the house. KE Subordinate clauses are often introduced by ke ("that"): Li diras, ke vi parolas Esperanton. In English, It is possible to leave out "that", and say "He says you speak Esperanto", instead of "He says that you speak Esperanto." However, in Esperanto ke must always be included. Note also that there is always a comma before ke, though the English translation may not have one. NEK ... NEK ... Nek means both "neither" and "nor": Mi parolas nek la francan nek la anglan. I speak neither French nor English. Li parolas nek Esperanton, nek la anglan. He speaks neither Esperanto nor English. Nek ni nek ili loĝas en Aŭstralio. Neither we nor they live in Australia. Da/De DA AND DE Although both da and de can be translated into English as of, they have different meanings: Use da when you're talking about quantity. Use de when talking about possession. Note: the direct object -n ending (accusative) is not used after da or de. For example: KIOM Kiom means "how much" or "how many." How much do you eat? Kiom vi manĝas? How much do you love me? Kiom vi amas min? How much is in the cup? Kiom estas en la taso? KIOM DA When you ask "how much" or "how many" of a specific thing or things, the word "of" cannot be omitted as it is in English: How much (of) bread do you eat? Kiom da pano vi manĝas? How many (of) apples do you eat? Kiom da pomoj vi manĝas? How much (of) tea is in the cup? Kiom da teo estas en la taso? MULTE DA Multe da means a lot of, lots of, or many: A lot of milk Multe da lakto Many (or a lot of) people Multe da homoj KIOM AĜAS How old are you? Kiom vi aĝas? (Literally: How much you are-age?) Kiom is used with age, since age is a quantity (of years). Note: An alternative way to ask someone's age is Kiom da jaroj vi havas? (Literally "How many years do you have?") MANKO DE A lack of... Manko de... A lack of something is not considered a quantity, so one says manko de and never manko da. For example: A lack of money Manko de mono MORE ABOUT DA AND DE When you're talking about a quantity of a specific thing or set of things, as opposed to a type of thing, you use de la. For example: Mi bezonas 5 kilogramojn da sukero. I need 5 kilograms of sugar. Mi bezonas 5 kilogramojn de la sukero. I need 5 kilograms of the sugar. Mi volas aĉeti 10 botelojn da biero. I want to buy 10 bottles of beer. Mi volas aĉeti 10 botelojn de la plej bona biero. I want to buy 10 bottles of the best beer. Kiom da nigra pano vi aĉetas? How much black bread are you buying? Kiom de la nigra pano vi aĉetas? How much of the black bread are you buying? Another way of expressing this is that "da" connects two words, in which the first expresses a measurement (like kiom, boteloj, kilogramoj), and the second is a category (like sukero, biero, pano). "Bovloj" is a category, while "la bovloj" is not; it is a specific item. A general rule you can remember is that "da" is never followed immediately by "la + X". Animals THE SUFFIX -ID (OFFSPRING) -id is a suffix that refers to the young of an animal, or more rarely, of a plant. kato (cat) + -id = katido (kitten) hundo (dog) + -id = hundido (puppy) DUO Duo is the name given by Duolingo to its mascot, the green owl. It is not the word for owl in Esperanto. The Esperanto word for owl is strigo. THE SUFFIX -IN (FEMALE) When it comes to animals, the root form of the animal (i.e. bovo) is gender neutral. Therefore the word bovo does not specify whether the animal is a bull or a cow. A bovino is specifically a cow. To make this unambiguously male, you need to add vir- in front of it, thus virbovo is a bull. Possessives POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS Possessive personal pronouns (also known as possessive adjectives) are words like "my" and "your" in English. Unlike in English, these words are completely regular in Esperanto. Just add -a to the end of a pronoun to turn it into its possessive form. Like other words ending in -a the possessives also take the -j (plural) and -n (accusative) ending when required. Jen miaj gepatroj. Here are my parents. Viaj ursoj trinkas mian bieron. Your bears are drinking my beer. DE If you want to express that something belongs to someone, the key word is de. It corresponds to the English word "of", but it is also used when English would put 's on a word instead. Jen mapo de la universitato. Here is a map of the university. Vi trinkas la bieron de mia patro. You are drinking my father's beer. (the beer of my father) Li estas la avo de Sofia. He is Sofia's grandfather. (the grandfather of Sofia) KIO, TIO Kio = what? or what thing?. Tio = that or that thing. Kio and tio never take the ending -j (plural), but do take the ending -n (accusative) if they refer to a direct object. Kio estas tio? What is that? Kion vi manĝas? What are you eating? Ni manĝas tion. We are eating that. Clothing PANTALONO Note that the word pantalono, which means "pants" (US) or "trousers" (UK) is singular in Esperanto. Thus pantalonoj refers to multiple pairs of pants. ŜTRUMPO, ŜTRUMPETO The suffix -et means "small", so a sock is a small stocking (ŝtrumpeto)! MOJOSA Mojosa (cool) is the most popular slang term in Esperanto. It originates from modern-jun-stila (modern-young-stylish). Reading out the first letter of each word gives Mo-Jo-So, which becomes mojoso (coolness). The adjective form is mojosa. Countries and Nationalities COUNTRY NAMES AND NATIONALITIES Esperanto has a two-part system for naming countries and their inhabitants. This two-part system developed early in the history of Esperanto, and was based on the idea of a division of the world into "Old World" and "New World". The assumption was that the "Old World" countries took their names from the people who lived there. In contrast, "New World" countries consisted mainly of immigrants and their descendants, so their inhabitants were named after the countries they lived in. So, for some "Old World" countries, mainly in Europe and Asia, the Esperanto root form gives the name of the inhabitant, and the name of the country is formed from it. For other "New World" countries,mainly in the Americas, Africa and Oceania, the Esperanto root form gives the name of the country, and the name of the inhabitant is formed from it. Group 1 (mainly "New World") The first group takes the name of the country as the root form (e.g. Brazil-o, Kanad-o) and an inhabitant of that country is formed by adding -an (member) in front of the ending -o. For example: Brazilanoj loĝas en Brazilo. Brazilians live in Brazil. Kanadanoj loĝas en Kanado. Canadians live in Canada. Group 2 (mainly "Old World") The second group takes the name of the inhabitant as the root form (e.g. ital-o, german-o) and its country name is formed by adding -uj in front of the ending -o. For example: Italoj loĝas en Italujo. Italians live in Italy. Germanoj loĝas en Germanujo. Germans live in Germany. Many people prefer to use the ending -io for Group 2 names rather than the traditional ending -ujo. This is how we teach country names here on Duolingo: ABOUT THE AMERICAS Usono refers to the USA, while Ameriko refers to the entire American continent; so usonano is a US citizen, while amerikano is someone from North, Central, or South America. MORE ACCENTED LETTERS The following table shows the rest of the accented letters, which are also called ĉapelitaj literoj (literally, "letters with hats"). Note: ĥ is pronounced as a strongly aspirated "h", like the "ch" in the Scottish word "loch" (not pronounced "lock"), while ŭ is normally only used after a and e, in the combinations aŭ and eŭ. Food MEAT DISHES To talk about meat dishes, add -aĵ to the name of the animal that the dish is made from. For example, to talk about "pork" (meat from a pig), you use the word for pig (porko) and add the suffix -aĵ : porkaĵo. To say "I am eating pork", you would say Mi manĝas porkaĵon. The same sentence without -aĵ , Mi manĝas porkon would mean "I am eating a pig." BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER matenmanĝo = breakfast, the morning meal tagmanĝo = lunch, the midday meal vespermanĝo = dinner, the evening meal PREPOSITIONS So far we have learned several prepositions, including sur, por, sen, de, da and kun. Note that there is no accusative -n for nouns after prepositions except in specific instances, which will be introduced later. SUBJECT OR OBJECT AFTER "OL" Ol (than), is a conjunction (a connecting word like "and") that functions as a comparison word. Either a subject or an object can follow it, just as in English: Ni amas ŝin pli ol ilin. We love her more than love them. (The object ilin follows ol.) Li amas la hundon pli ol ili amas ĝin. He loves the dog more than they love it. (The subject ili follows ol.) JEN Jen means "here is" or "here are" like the following: Jen la hundo. = Here is the dog. Although less common, Jen may be followed by estas and a noun, for example: Jen estas la hundo. = Here is the dog. KUN AND KUNE CORRELATIVES You may have noticed that all the question words start with ki-, except for ĉu. The letter or letters after ki- in the question word, i.e. the ending, indicates what kind of question it is. In this module we introduce the group of words ending in -om which relate to quantity. All of these words in both tables are part of a group in Esperanto called correlatives. 5 beginnings and 9 endings can be combined logically together to form 45 (5x9) basic words. USES OF DA AND DE AFTER THE -IOM GROUP OF CORRELATIVES. Kiom, tiom, iom, and ĉiom are followed by da, when they refer to quantities that are indefinite: Kiom da akvo vi trinkas? How much water are you drinking? Li manĝas iom da kuko. He eats some cake. When referring to amounts of a definite quantity, we use de: Mi manĝas iom de la granda kuko. I am eating some of the big cake. Kiom de la sandviĉo li manĝas? How much of the sandwich is he eating? Neniom is usually used alone, since it describes the absence of a quantity. For example: Mi havas neniom. = I have none. Infinitive INFINITIVE The ending -i indicates the infinitive, for example ami (to love). This is the neutral form found in a dictionary. It is often used to complement the verbs povas (can), volas (want), devas (must), and ŝatas (like). For example: * Mi volas danci. = I want to dance. * Mi ŝatas manĝi. = I like to eat. * Ĉu vi povas fari tion? = Can you do that? NEK ... NEK ... Nek means both "neither" and "nor" and follows English usage patterns. It is a conjunction like kaj and aŭ. For example: Nek la rozo nek la pomo estas flava. Neither the rose nor the apple is yellow. Nek la rozon nek la pomon mi ŝatas. I like neither the rose nor the apple. La rozo estas nek rozkolora nek bela. The rose is neither pink nor pretty. SCII & KONI (TO KNOW) Both scii and koni can be translated as "to know." While scii refers to intellectual knowledge, koni refers to knowing someone or something from experience. Scii Use scii when you know a specific fact : Mi scias la respondon. I know the answer. Ĉu vi scias lian adreson? Do you know his address? Sentences that begin " I know that ..." will always be translated as " Mi scias, ke ..." as they are describing knowledge of a fact. For example: Mi scias, ke Francio estas en Eŭropo. I know that France is in Europe. Mi scias, ke li ŝatas trinki kafon. I know that he likes to drink coffee. Koni Typically, koni will be used to know a person or an animal. For example: Ĉu vi konas mian patron? Do you know my father? Ŝi bone konas mian hundon. She knows my dog well. It can also be used to refer to a place or thing that one knows well from experience: Mi konas Francion tre bone. I know France very well. (Because I visited there often.) Mi konas tiun libron I know that book. (Because I already read it.) Note: You will never use konas, ke because konas cannot be used to refer to knowing a fact. So you can say: Mi scias, ke Esperanto estas internacia lingvo. (I know that Esperanto is an international language.) But you cannot say: Mi konas, ke Esperanto estas internacia lingvo. Here is an example of scii and koni in the same sentence: Mi scias, ke vi konas ŝin. I know that you know her. Questions ĈU As covered in Basics 2, Ĉu is used to introduce a question. For example: * Ĉu vi volas danci? = Do you want to dance? * Ĉu vi amas ŝin aŭ min? = Do you love her or me? In the middle of a sentence, ĉu means "whether". For example: Ŝi demandas min, ĉu mi volas danci. She asks me whether I want to dance. (or: She asks me if I want to dance.) Ŝi volas scii, ĉu mi parolas Esperanton. She wants to know whether I speak Esperanto. (or: She wants to know if I speak Esperanto.) Note that in English we often use the word "if" interchangeably with "whether", as in the examples above, but in Esperanto this is not correct. We can never use the word se" (if) in place of the word ĉu*. . CORRELATIVES ENDING IN -U The correlatives ending in -u (kiu, tiu, etc.) usually come before a noun. Notice how they take -j and -n endings just like adjectives. For example: Kiun libron vi legas? Which book are you reading? Mi volas legi tiujn librojn. I want to read those books. They appear without a noun only if the context makes what is being talked about clear. For example: Jen kelkaj bonaj libroj. Kiun libron vi volas legi? Here are some good books. Which book would you like to read? Without other information, assume that kiu and tiu (and any other correlative ending in -u) refer to a person. For example: Kiu venas? = Who is coming? Kio estas tio? Tio estas libro. What is that? That is a book. Kiu estas via libro? Mia libro estas tiu. Which is your book? My book is that one. Kion vi volas? Mi volas tion. What do you want? I want that. Kiun vi volas? Mi volas tiun. Which do you want? I want that one. Kiujn vi volas? Mi volas tiujn. Which ones do you want? I want those. ĈI Ĉi expresses close proximity when used immediately before or after ti- words. For example: Note: Since ĉi can go before or after ti- words, these are also valid: tie ĉi, tiu ĉi, tio ĉi. KIEN? TIEN Adding -n to kie or tie shows movement towards a place. For example: Kie vi estas? Mi estas ĉi tie. Where are you? I am here. Kien vi iras? Mi iras tien. To where are you going? I am going to there. Note that the "to" is usually dropped in English, so this would be translated as "Where are you going? I am going there." Due to this lack of distinction in English, many English speakers have trouble remembering to add -n to tie and kie when talking about movement towards a place. KIAM Kiam means "when". Verbs Present 2 VERB TYPES Transitive verbs Transitive verbs may take a direct object. For example: Mi trinkas sukon. = I drink juice. Ŝi legas libron. = She reads a book. Sometimes, although the verb is transitive, the direct object is not expressed, so we may say Mi trinkas or Ŝi legas, without naming the thing that the person is drinking or reading. Intransitive verbs Intransitive verbs never take a direct object. For example: Mi sidas. = I am sitting. La knabino kuras. = The girl is running. Differences between Esperanto and English Please note that the rules concerning verbs and objects are stricter in Esperanto than in English. In English, we know a lot of verbs that can be used both with and without a direct object. In English we can say "He closes the door" and "The door closes", using the same verb, although the meaning is different. In the first example, someone performs the action of closing the door, while in the second, the door becomes closed. In Esperanto, there are two words for this: Li fermas la pordon. = He closes the door. La pordo fermiĝas = The door closes. In the same way, Esperanto distinguishes between komenci (to start to do something) and komenciĝi (to start happening): La instruisto komencas la lecionon =The teacher starts the lesson. La leciono komenciĝas. = The lesson is starting. To use grammatical terms, fermi and komenci are transitive (take a direct object), while fermiĝi and komenciĝi are intransitive (cannot take a direct object). ATENDI Atendi can mean "to wait," "to wait for" or "to expect." For example: Mi atendas. = I wait. Mi atendas buson. = I wait for a bus. Mi atendas profiton. = I am expecting a profit. Note: Kion vi atendas? can mean either "What are you expecting?" or "What are you waiting for?" depending on the context. Family GE- Most words relating to the family are male by default. The suffix -in (female) and the prefix ge- (both genders) can be added to change the meaning. For example: The prefix pra- means long ago, in the distant past : AMIK(IN)O, KORAMIK(IN)O Note that amiko and amikino are not equivalent to the English "boyfriend" and "girlfriend". To describe a romantic relationship, we use the terms koramiko and koramikino ("heart-friend"). SIA The possessive pronoun sia means his own, her own, its own or their own. It always refers back to the subject. Li vidas sian hundon. He sees his own dog. Li vidas lian hundon. He sees his else's dog. Ili nun estas en sia hejmo. They are now in their own home. Ili nun estas en ilia hejmo. They are now in their friends' home. Note that sia is not used when the subject of the concerned clause is mi, ni, or vi. In these cases use its standard possessive pronoun: Vi havas vian hundon. You have your own dog. Sia with multiple subjects Li vidas, ke vi havas lian hundon. He sees that you have his dog. Notice that ke splits this sentence into two clauses. Each clause has its own subject: li and vi. In such cases, sia is only used if its subject is in the same clause, so in this example, sian is not possible, because li is in a different clause than hundon. Karlo diras, ke la infanoj vizitas siajn geavojn. Karlo says that the children are visiting their own grandparents. In this example, "the children" is in the same clause as "grandparents," so siajn is used. Here is another similar example: Ŝi vidas, ke hundo ludas per sia pilko. She sees that a dog plays with its own ball. KIOM AĜAS How old are you? Kiom vi aĝas? (Literally: How much you are-age?) Kiom is used with age, since age is a quantity (of years). Note: An alternative way to ask someone's age is Kiom da jaroj vi havas? (Literally "How many years do you have?") . Objects PER Per means “by means of”, although the English translation may use “by” or “with”. Use this when mentioning tools or methods of transportation. For example: * per martelo – with a hammer * per tranĉilo – with a knife * per buso, per aŭto, per trajno, per ŝipo – by bus, by car, by train, by ship Note that per is a preposition and so the following noun does not take the –n ending. Numbers THE PAST TENSE -IS ENDING. For the past tense, use -is: La arbo falas. The tree is falling. La arbo falis. The tree fell. ZERO The word for the number zero in Esperanto is nul or nulo. CARDINAL/ORDINAL NUMBERS Cardinal numbers such as one, two and three never take any endings in Esperanto. Ordinal numbers such as first, second and third end in -a and function as adjectives, so they also must agree with the nouns they modify: la unua tago (the first day); la unuaj tagoj (the first days). FRACTIONS Fractions are made by adding the suffix -on to the base number. Fractions can be nouns (-o) or adjectives (-a) just like any other word in Esperanto. For example: duona tago / duontago a half day WRITING OUT NUMBERS Du mil okdek kvar Two thousand eighty-four (2084) Kvincent sesdek tri mil Five hundred sixty-three thousand (563 000) For ordinal numbers, use hyphens between all the words in the number: ducent-okdek-sepa. We do this because the adjective ending -a relates to the entire number (287), not just to the 7 at the end. La du-mil-okcent-kvara tago The two thousand eighty-fourth day A MILLION AND BEYOND Note: It is advisable to avoid using the ambiguous word biliono, since this can either mean a billion or a trillion. In English also, these words can have different meanings, depending on the country where they are used. THE -N ENDING AND QUANTITIES Besides being used to indicate a direct object, the -n ending is also used to indicate length, quantities, price, distance and measures. For example: La ŝtofo estas du metrojn longa. The fabric is two meters long. La domo kostas tricent mil eŭrojn. The house costs three hundred thousand euros. Ili marŝis dudek kilometrojn. They walked twenty kilometers. NOMBRO VS NUMERO Esperanto distinguishes between nombro and numero although both are translated as “number” in English. Nombro Nombro is a number that signifies an amount or is used to express a mathematical relationship. For example: la nombro de personoj the number of people 4 estas pli granda nombro ol 3. 4 is a larger number than 3. Numero Numero is a number used for labelling items in a series: la numero de la domo the house number telefonnumero phone number la lasta numero de la gazeto the last number edition of the newspaper. PO There is no exact equivalent of the word po in English, which means approximately "at the rate of". It is used to indicate that a certain amount has been given to each of several recipients, or given at regular intervals over a certain period of time. Po introduces the amount that is given each time or to each recipient, not the total amount to be distributed. The word po will always be followed by some expression of quantity. In English translations of sentences with po, you will often find the word "each": Mi donis al la infanoj po du pomoj. I gave two apples to each child. I gave each child two apples. La amikoj trinkis po du glasoj da vino. The friends each drank two glasses of wine. The friends drank two glasses of wine each. Po can also be used for prices. La pomoj kostas po du dolaroj. The apples cost two dollars each. Note that po always refers to the quantity being distributed, and NOT to the number of people or the period of time among whom or which they are distributed. La tri virinoj kantis po kvar kantoj. The three women sang four songs each. (i.e. each woman sang four songs, and a total of 3 x 4=12 songs were sung.) La kvar pomoj kostas po du dolaroj. The four apples cost two dollars each. (i.e. each apple costs two dollars, for a total cost of 4 x 2= 8 dollars.) Po is a preposition, and so is not followed by an accusative, the same as al, de or da. However, these days many people treat po as an adverb and add the accusative ending where appropriate. Both ways are considered acceptable: Mi donis al la infanoj po du pomojn. Mi donis al la infanoj po du pomoj. I gave the children two apples each. I gave each of the children two apples. Prepositions PREPOSITIONS The most literal sense of a preposition is generally the correct word to use in Esperanto. Thus, one rides "in the train," not "on the train." For example: * antaŭ can mean "in front of" or "before", depending on the context. In conjunction with time it can mean "ago". * kontraŭ means "against", but also "at the cost/price of"; and can be used in the context of taking a medicine in order to treat an illness ("against" an illness). In general, nouns following a preposition do not take the -n ending. THE DIRECTIONAL -N In addition to its use for the direct object, the -n ending is also used to show direction: * Ŝi saltas sur la tablo. = She jumps (up and down) on the table. * Ŝi saltas sur la tablon. = She jumps onto the table (from another location). PRO VS POR * Pro = because of, on account of * Por = for Mi parolas Esperanton pro vi. I speak Esperanto because of you. La donaco estas por vi. The gift is for you. KROM Krom can mean either "except (for)" or "in addition to" depending on the context. For example: Mi ŝatas ĉion, krom araneoj. I like everything except spiders. Krom araneoj, ŝi ankaŭ amas abelojn. In addition to spiders, she also loves bees. MANKO DE A lack of... Manko de... A lack of something is not considered a quantity, so one says manko de and never manko da. For example: A lack of money Manko de mono VERŜI AND ŜUTI Verŝi means to pour a liquid such as water or oil, while ŝuti means to pour a non-liquid such as sand or sugar. TERO AND TERO Tero is the word for the planet Earth. We omit the article la when we speak of it in that context: Tero moviĝas ĉirkaŭ la suno. (The) Earth moves around the sun. La Tero is the term for the Earth we live on: Kie ni vivos, kiam la Tero estos tro varma? Where will we live, when the Earth is too hot? For earth or soil that plants grow in, we use tero without capitalization: En la tero kreskas plantoj. Plants grow in the earth. Verbs: Past & Future VERBS: PAST & FUTURE The following endings change the tense of a verb: -is = past -os = future There are no exceptions to this rule! Note: In English, sometimes part of a sentence is expressed in the present tense, even though the event actually takes place in the future. In Esperanto, both parts of the sentence are in the future tense, since they happen then. For example: Kion vi faros, kiam vi estos gepatroj? What will you do when you are parents? Ni iros al la drinkejo ĉi-vespere. We are going to the bar tonight. . POST KIAM/ANTAŬ OL The preposition post means "after" and is usually followed by a noun: post la matenmanĝo after breakfast post la oka horo after eight o'clock However, if you want to use post with a verb phrase, you have to use post kiam: Post kiam ni matenmanĝis... After we had had breakfast... Post kiam mi laboris, mi dormis. After I had worked, I slept. In the same way, antaŭ ol needs to be used before verbs. Ni manĝis, antaŭ ol li alvenis. We ate before he arrived. Dates and Time SPECIAL CONVENTIONS TO EXPRESS TIME The -e ending may be used when talking about a reoccurring event or a specific event. * La renkontiĝo okazas sabate. * The meeting happens on Saturdays / every Saturday. * * La renkontiĝo okazos sabate. * The meeting will take place on Saturday (this Saturday). The -n ending is used only when talking about the upcoming or recent past occurrence of a specific event: * Mi alvenos sabaton. = I will arrive (on) Saturday. * Ni venos la dek-kvinan de oktobro. = We will come (on) the 15th of October. The -n ending is also used to express duration: * Mi restis unu horon (= dum unu horo). = I stayed for one hour. * Li vojaĝos la tutan tagon (= dum la tuta tago). = He will travel all day (the whole day). SPELLING CONVENTIONS FOR MONTHS AND DAYS OF THE WEEK Upper Case or Lower Case? Months can either start with a lower case or capital letter: januaro, februaro; Januaro, Februaro. In this course, we have chosen to present the lowercase form. Days of the week always are in lower case: lundo, mardo. THE 24-HOUR CLOCK In many countries, a 24-hour clock is often used. In that system, all times after 12 noon are formed by adding 12 to the clock time, so "am" and "pm" are not needed: TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS A transitive verb (transitiva verbo) is a verb that requires a direct object. An intransitive verb (netransitiva verbo) is a verb that does not take an object. Komenci and komenciĝi, below, are examples of transitive and intransitive verbs Komenci, komenciĝi: what is the difference? Komenci (transitive) means to start or begin something, and takes a direct object with an -n ending: * Mi komencas la manĝon. = I am starting/beginning the meal. Komenciĝi (intransitive) includes the -iĝ affix and means to begin or start on its own. It does not take a direct object: * La manĝo komenciĝas. = The meal is starting/beginning. A more detailed explanation of transitive / intransitive verbs can be found in the notes for the module Verbs Present. You will learn more about the -iĝ affix in a module dedicated to both the -iĝ and the -ig affix. CORRELATIVES (TABELVORTOJ) All the question words we have learned so far start with ki-, which has the general meaning of "what": Similar words starting with ti- (general meaning of "that") are related to the question words: And words starting with ĉi- (general meaning of "all") are also related: All of these words (and more that we will learn as the course progresses) are part of a group of words in Esperanto called Correlatives (Eo: korelativoj). In Esperanto they are also called tabelvortoj because they can easily be arranged in one big table / chart. In this module we learn iam (at any time, sometimes, ever) and neniam (at no time, never) to round out the words ending with -am that relate to time. Finally, here's an overview of all the correlatives that you have learned so far: Imperative IMPERATIVE: THE -U ENDING. The -u ending is used when ordering / inviting someone else to do something -- or when telling or suggesting to ourselves what to do! IMPERATIVE + INFINITIVE An imperative may be followed by an infinitive: Bonvolu manĝi! Please eat! (NOT: Bonvolu manĝu. Do not use two imperatives one after the other in that way). QUESTIONS WITH -U In questions, the -u ending generally means "shall" ; it can also be translated as "should": Ĉu ni iru? Shall we go? Should we go? Ĉu mi legu tiun libron? Shall I read that book? Should I read that book? THE -U ENDING IN SUBORDINATE PHRASES We also use the -u ending in subordinate phrases (clauses) starting with ke, when the verb in the preceding, main part of the sentence expresses a want, desire, demand or preference: Occupations GENDER MARKERS RELATED TO PROFESSIONS: As mentioned in the Family lesson notes, nouns not relating to family have no base gender: aktoro : a male or female actor dentisto : a male or female dentist In these cases, you may choose to explicitly make a noun feminine by adding -in : aktorino = a female actor dentistino = a female dentist Be aware that in some Esperanto settings, when you use a term like aktoro or dancisto, people may assume that you are taking about a man. In this course, we will not routinely present the feminine form of professions. However your responses using the feminine form when appropriate will be accepted as correct. STUDENTO AND LERNANTO Studento - a student enrolled in a college or university, or an adult learner. Lernanto - a pupil, a student in a primary school, middle school or high school. FARIĜI Fariĝi (to become) contains the -iĝ affix, so nouns following it do not take the -n ending, as they are not considered direct objects. We will learn more about the -iĝ affix in later lessons. ŜAJNAS, KE ... Ŝajnas, ke ... means "It seems, that ..." Adjectives 1 ADJECTIVES An adjective takes the -a ending and has to agree in number with the noun it modifies: * bona homo = a good person * bonaj homoj = good people * Homoj estas bonaj. = People are good. An adjective that modifies an object also takes the -n (direct object) ending: Mi manĝas belajn kukojn. = I eat beautiful cakes. In summary, an adjective's ending must match the ending of the noun it modifies. WORD ORDER Word order in Esperanto is flexible. Most people place adjectives before the noun, but they may also be placed after the noun. Both of the following sentences are correct: Ŝi estas bona instruisto. Ŝi estas instruisto bona. She is a good teacher. ADJECTIVES INTO VERBS In Esperanto, adjectives are easily transformed into verbs, and are frequently used that way in conversations and in written texts : Mi estas preta. = Mi pretas. = I am ready. Mi estas malsana. = Mi malsanas. = I am sick. You may also hear: La ĉielo bluas. = La ĉielo estas blua. = The sky is blue. La hundo grandas = La hundo estas granda.= The dog is big. MAL- The prefix mal- simply means “opposite”. It does not mean “bad” as in some romance languages. granda = big, large malgranda = small, little fermi = to close malfermi = to open PAIRED CONJUNCTIONS: CORRELATIVES WITH -IA Correlatives ending in -ia refer to a kind, sort, or type of something. They are adjectives and take the -j and -n endings where needed: Kiajn librojn vi ŝatas legi? What kinds of books do you like to read? Affixes AFFIXES One of the greatest advantages of Esperanto is its flexible system of word particles that can be attached either in front of a word (prefixes) or at the end of a word (suffixes). There are 10 prefixes and 31 suffixes, which can be used to modify any word, as long as the result makes sense. When you finish the Affixes 3 module, you will know all of them! In this lesson, you'll review one prefix (mal-) and learn many suffixes: See how these affixes affect the word varma: Affixes as roots Note that even though affixes in Esperanto are usually attached to a root word, they can also be used as roots themselves, for example: Home COMPOUND WORDS Combining two words to make a new word is very common in Esperanto. The vowel ending of the first word may be dropped, or it may be retained if that makes the word easier to pronounce: Also note that a hyphen may be added: Esperanto + klubo = Esperantoklubo or Esperanto-klubo. PURIGI Pur-ig-i means to clean (to make something clean), and comes from the adjective pura (clean). We will learn more about the affix -ig in future modules. MANĜILARO This is an example of a word with two affixes, and illustrates how easy and straightforward it is to build words in Esperanto: Manĝ + -il + -aro =manĝilaro Eat + tool + group = silverware LOĜI AND VIVI English speakers usually use the verb “to live” for both meanings. However you should aim to make the distinction and use loĝi and vivi correctly in Esperanto, so that you will be reliably understood. MEM Mem means my,your,his,her-self, or them-selves. It is used for emphasis: Verbs: Conditional THE CONDITIONAL Use the verb ending -us to talk about non-real, imagined situations, or to make polite requests. Non-real situations Non-real situations are the topic of "if...then" sentences, like this one: * Se mi estus sana, mi laborus. = If I were healthy, I would work. Notice that Esperanto, unlike English, uses the -us form in both parts of the sentence - since both parts are non-real. We also talk about non-real situations when we express our wish for something to be different from what/how it actually is: * Se li nur estus iom pli bela! = If only he were a bit more handsome! The -us ending does not carry any temporal information. Thus, it is possible to use the -us ending for events in the past as well. When doing so, context usually indicates that we are talking about the past: * Se Zamenhof scius la ĉinan, Esperanto estus malsama. = If Zamenhof had known Chinese, Esperanto would be different. * Se vi dirus tion al mi jam hieraŭ, mi ne farus la eraron. = If you had told me this already yesterday, I would not have made the mistake. Polite requests The -us form can also be used to express polite requests. * Ĉu vi povus doni al mi la buteron? = Could you pass me the butter? * Mi ŝatus iom pli da sukero. = I would like a little more sugar. REVIEW OF -N FOR DIRECTION Remember to use the -n ending when talking about a movement towards a certain place. For example * Metu la dosierojn en dosierujon! = Put the files into a folder! RETPOŜTO VS. RETMESAĜO Retpoŝto means email in general; the service that allows you to send and receive electronic messages. A message sent by retpoŝto (email) is most often called retmesaĝo (email). Adverbs ADVERBS : THE -E ENDING Adverbs typically end in -e. An adverb describes or modifies a verb. We have already seen several examples of adverbs: ADVERBS CAN MODIFY ADJECTIVES Tio estas vere bela : That is truly beautiful. ADVERB AFTER ESTAS After estas, when there is no subject of the sentence, use an adverb, not an adjective. Feelings TIEL...KIEL Tiel...kiel is a way of expressing a comparison: REFLEXIVE VERB: SENTI Please note that senti feel in Esperanto is reflexive. For example: * Mi sentas min feliĉa. = I feel happy. * Kia vi sentas vin? = How do you feel? People CORRELATIVES WITH -U -u words relate to a particular person or thing. CORRELATIVES WITH -ES -es words relate to possessing something. Ties does not have a one word translation in English and means "that person's" or " that one's". It can be used to clarify a sentence that might be ambiguous in English. "He went to a restaurant with his cousin and his wife." Whose wife was it, the cousin's or his own? * Li iris al la restoracio kun sia kuzo kaj sia edzino = He went to the restaurant with his cousin and his own wife. * Li iris al la restoracio kun sia kuzo kaj ties edzino. = He went to the restaurant with his cousin and his cousin's wife. Places THE -N ENDING FOR DIRECTION The -n ending is used to show direction, when describing movement toward something or some place. However, it is not used after the prepositions ĝis, al or el, as they already show direction: ENIRI, ELIRI Eniri and eliri are good examples of a common way to build new verbs in Esperanto: combine a preposition with an existing verb: AJN Ajn means any or ever, and may be combined with various ki- and i- correlatives, usually for emphasis: TROVIĜI Troviĝi means to be found or located. It comes from the verb trovi, to find. Because it contains the -iĝ affix, it is intransitive and does not take an object: Ilia domo troviĝas en bela kvartalo. Their house is located in a beautiful neighborhood. CORRELATIVES WITH -E AND -EN Here is a chart which lists all the correlatives ending in -ie and -ien: Medical ROMPI AND ROMPIĜI, OKUPI AND OKUPIĜI We have already encountered the intransitive -iĝ affix when learning fariĝi and komenciĝi. Similarly, rompi means to break something, while rompiĝi means to become or get broken. And okupi means to occupy something, while okupiĝi means to become occupied. KIEL EBLE PLEJ Kiel eble plej..... followed by an adverb is an expression similar to the English expression "as .... as possible." For example: DOLORI AL IU.... In Esperanto, we use dolori al to say that a particular part of the body hurts a person: Doloras al mi la kapo. OR "La kapo doloras al mi. OR Doloras min la kapo. OR La kapo doloras min. My head hurts. (Head is the subject) La brako doloras al ŝi. OR La brako doloras ŝin. Her arm hurts. (Arm is the subject). It is also possible to say Mia kapo doloras. (My head hurts.) or Ŝia brako doloras. (Her arm hurts) as we do in English. KONTRAŬ Here we learn another setting for the word kontraŭ, previously taught in its primary meaning of "against" or "opposite". In a medical setting, kontraŭ means "for the purpose of treating or curing": Mi prenis medikamenton kontraŭ febro. I took a medication for fever. CORRELATIVES WITH -AL -ial words refer to a reason or motive for doing something. KIALO Kialo means "a reason", and comes from the correlative kial, why: Li faris tion sen bona kialo. He did that without a good reason. EKZERCI SIN : THE REFLEXIVE FORM In English, we use special pronouns, the so-called reflexive pronouns, if the object of a phrase refers to the same person(s) as the subject. * I see you (you is a regular pronoun) * You see yourself (yourself is a reflexive pronoun - it is used here because the person being seen is the same as the person who is seeing.) Esperanto doesn't have reflexive pronouns for I/me, you or we/us. Esperanto only has one reflexive pronoun, si, used for he/him, she/her, and they/them. Ŝi vidas sin ("She sees herself"; the person who is being seen is the same as the person who is seeing.) -Ŝi vidas ŝin ("She sees her"; the person being seen is not the same as the person who is seeing.) Si is gender-neutral and works for both singular and plural. Verbs: Infinitive 2 -IG AND -IĜ The -ig and -iĝ suffixes express a change of state. -ig means to cause a change, while -iĝ means to experience a change, or change from one state to another: The above example show how the -ig and -iĝ suffixes can be used with adjectives. They can also be used with verbs: As you can see in the examples above, verbs ending in -ig always require an object, while those ending in -iĝ never do. In grammatical terns, the -ig verbs are transitive, while the -iĝ verbs are intransitive. Many verbs in English can be both transitive and intransitive, but this is not possible in Esperanto, in which verbs are normally either transitive or intransitive, but not both. In English, we can say "The girl closed the window" and "The window closed" using the same verb, even thought the meaning is slightly different: in the first sentence the girl is acting on the window, while in the second the window became closed by itself. Examples of English words that can be both transitive and intransitive include "to open", "to close", "to start", "to finish", "to change" and "to move". These verbs in Esperanto-- malfermi, fermi, komenci, fini, ŝangi, movi--are all transitive, and to make them intransitive you must add the suffix -iĝ: Here are some example sentences using words from the two charts above: It is also possible to add the -iĝ ending to intransitive verbs like sidi (to sit, be sitting) and kuŝi (to lie, be lying down). In this setting the addition of -iĝ indicates a change of position to achieve a new state: * Li sidiĝis sur la sofo. * He sat down on the sofa. (He "became sitting" on the sofa.) * * La hundo kuŝiĝis sur la planko. * The dog lay down on the floor. (The dog "became lying" on the floor.) . Affixes 2 Now let's add more affixes to the mix to multiply your vocabulary even further! You can add an affix to any Esperanto word as long as the result makes sense. Travel JU (MAL)PLI...DES (MAL)PLI This is an expression equivalent to "the more... the more" or "the less...the less" in English. Ju always comes before des : * Ju pli da mono, des pli da zorgo. (The more money, the more worry.) * Ju pli frue, des pli bone. (The earlier, the better.) * Ju malpli mi laboras, des malpli mi volas labori. (The less I work, the less I want to work.) * Ju pli li atentas, des malpli li komprenas. (The more he pays attention, the less he understands.) * Ju malpli da vortoj, des pli bone. (The fewer words, the better.) CORRELATIVES WITH -EL -iel words refer to "how" or "in what way". TIEL...KIEL When paired, tiel and kiel can mean as...as: Vi estas tiel inteligenta kiel ŝi. You are as intelligent as she (is). Tiel alone can also be used for emphasis, as "so": Kial vi estas tiel kolera? Why are you so angry? CONGRATULATIONS! You have now learned all of the correlatives! Here is a complete chart: VETURI AND VOJAĜI Vojaĝi means to travel, and is a general term. Veturi is more specific, and means to travel by any means of transportation other than your own feet: * Kiam vi vojaĝos al Ĉinio? = When will you travel to China? * Ni preferas veturi al Berlino per aŭto. = We prefer to travel to Berlin by car. * Note: Veturilo means vehicle. Any mobile machine that transports people or cargo is a veturilo, for example: aviadilo (aircraft), motorciklo (motorcycle), aŭto (car). -N AFTER TRANS AND TRANSIRI Trans means "across, on the far side." When movement is involved, don't forget to add -n to the noun. Compare these two examples: * Mia domo troviĝas trans la strato. * My house is located across the street. * * La infano kuras trans la straton. * The child is running across the street (to the other side of the street). * Transiri means "to go across": Kial la koko transiris la vojon? Why did the chicken cross the road? VENDEJO AND BUTIKO Vendejo is a more general term than butiko as it can mean any place where anything is sold, including a wholesale warehouse. Butiko refers to a retail store. However they are often used interchangeably when referring to retail locations. PASPORTA SERVO Pasporta Servo is a hospitality network founded in 1966 and published by the Tutmonda Esperantista Junulara Organizo (TEJO). Free lodging is offered by over a thousand hosts in over 90 countries. Some Esperanto speakers use this network to travel cheaply while others use it to meet interesting people from around the world by hosting them in their own home. In 2009, this service made its transition online and can be found at . Education PARTICIPLES This is an introduction to participles, which are important to recognize and start to learn, but which are not needed for most everyday interactions in Esperanto. Participles are formed from verbs. There are two categories of participles: active and passive. Each category has present, future and past tenses. Active participles Active participles present an action or state as a description of its subject. Let's take the example of a sleeping cat: La kato (subject) dormas (verb). Passive participles Passive participles present an action or state as a description of its object. As we don't have an object in our sleeping cat, let's imagine that the cat is reading a book now: La kato (subject) legas (verb) libron (object). Participles are like adjectives Participles end in -a like adjectives. In fact, they are used in the same way as adjectives, which means that they agree in number and case with the noun that they belong to: * Mi estas skribanta. = I am (in the process of) writing. * Ni estas skribantaj. = We are (in the process of) writing. * La libro estas legita. = The book has been read. * * La libroj estas legitaj. = The books have been read. * Mi vidis viron kurantan. = I saw a man who was running / I saw a running man. * Mi trovis du poŝtelefonojn rompitajn. = I found two mobile phones that had been broken / I found two broken mobile phones. Participles can be combined with past, present and future tenses of esti to more precisely define the time of the action. Participles + -o ending An o-ending on an active participle signifies the person performing the action: * la leganto - the reader * la skribanto - the writer * la gvidonto - the future guide * SPECIAL GUEST EXPLANATION OF PARTICIPLES Although we haven't taught many of the words he uses, we can't resist including Lee Miller's creative examples: Participles ending in -e always modify the subject of the sentence: Elirante el la domo, ŝi lasis fali la kadavron. While leaving the house, she dropped the cadaver. Pensante pri participoj, mi trinkis bieron. As I was thinking about participles, I drank a beer. Vangofrapite, la gorilo ekploris. Having been slapped on the cheek, the gorilla burst out in tears. Participles ending in -a are always adjectives. They describe the state or action of something at some point in time: La promenanta mortinto ridis gaje. The walking dead one laughed happily. Mi estis ironta al la elefant-vendejo. I was a state of going to go to the elephant store. La koto-tortoj estis aparte bone bakitaj hodiaŭ. The mud pies were particularly well baked today. Participles ending in -o almost always refer to persons, or person-like things, with a few traditional exceptions (like “Esperanto”, for instance). La kuranto ne vidis la arbon, ĉar li rigardis la poŝtelefonon. The runner didn’t see the tree because he was looking at his phone. La amanto bedaŭrinde ne estis la amato. The lover unfortunately was not the beloved. La kondamnito flugis el prizono sur drako. The convict flew out of the prison on a dragon. LA CAN TAKE THE PLACE OF POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS When talking about relatives, la can take the place of a possessive pronoun--for example: * La bebo imitas la gefratojn. = The baby imitates his/her/its siblings. Abstract Objects 1 SUFFIX -ECO English uses various suffixes to create abstract nouns which in Esperanto end in -eco: * boneco - goodness * patrineco - motherhood * libereco - freedom * amikeco - friendship * egaleco - equality * English also has abstract words where it is no longer obvious that part of the word is or was a suffix: * saneco - health (from hale) * riĉeco - wealth (from weal) LA BEFORE SOME ABSTRACT NOUNS When we speak of some normally specific or concrete nouns in the abstract sense, we use the definite article la, though it is not required: * la amo - not one specific person's love for another, but love in the abstract sense * la kulturo - not one specific culture, but culture in the general or abstract sense * la espero - not my hope to receive a gift tomorrow, but the idea of hope in the abstract DEPENDAS DE... To depend on... is translated in Esperanto as dependi de (io). LABORI PRI... To work on... is translated in Esperanto as labori pri (io) or prilabori (ion). Affixes 3 Congratulations, after this lesson, you'll know all of Esperanto's 10 prefixes and 31 suffixes! With a little practice, you'll be able to combine these affixes into words with ease, giving you an amazing ability to express yourself unlike any other foreign language. Since this is the most advanced affixes lesson, you'll also end up learning some lesser-used affixes, so definitely don't feel like you need to use them all in everyday conversation! Sports IRI, MARŜI, PAŜI There is some overlap in meaning between these three verbs. Here is a table to help clarify the differences: REVIEW OF THE CORRELATIVES Abstract Objects USE OF ADVERB AFTER INFINITIVE OR INFINITIVE PHRASE Lasi la hundon en la aŭto estas kruele. (NOT kruela) To leave the dog in the car is cruel. Lerni lingvojn ne devas esti malfacile. (NOT malfacila) Learning languages does not need to be difficult. -N ENDING AFTER RILATE, INKLUZIVE Instead of rilate al, one can use the -n ending on the object. Instead of inkluzive de, one can also use the -n ending on the object: Mi ŝatas manĝi fruktojn, inkluzive oranĝojn. Mi ŝatas manĝi fruktojn, inkluzive de oranĝoj. I like to eat fruits, including oranges. Kion vi sentas rilate min? Kion vi sentas rilate al mi? What do you feel about me? CONGRATULATIONS! You've reached the final skill of Duolingo's Esperanto course! For ideas on how to continue using the language after finishing this course, please see: Communication ĴURNALO, REVUO, GAZETO, ETC CONGRATULATIONS! You've reached the final skill of Duolingo's Esperanto course! For ideas on how to continue using the language after finishing this course, please s